Continued rail disruption due to damaged wires
There was widespread disruption, as a result of the damaged wires, at New Street on Wednesday
- Published
Disruption is expected to continue into Thursday evening for some rail passengers travelling through Birmingham New Street, with travellers advised to allow plenty of time for their journeys.
It comes after damaged electrical wires meant some lines in and out of the station were blocked on Wednesday.
The incident was first reported just before 14:00 BST, with delays and cancellations to services continued into the evening.
Most services were running normally on Thursday morning, bosses said, but no trains were able to run between Birmingham New Street and Lichfield Trent Valley (Cross City North line) and rail replacement buses were in operation.
A spokesperson for West Midlands Railway said this would be the case "until further notice" while engineers worked to carry out repairs.
They posted on X to say: "We're sorry for the disruption and appreciate your patience, we are working as quickly as is safely possible."
National Rail said on Thursday afternoon the disruption was likely to affect West Midlands Railway services until 21:00.
The wires were damaged between New Street and Water Orton in Warwickshire, according to post by Transport for West Midlands.
On Wednesday, Birmingham New Street posted on X, external that extra staff had been drafted in to help passengers.
A post on Network Rail's New Street X account, external, showed a photo of the damage, with loose cables hanging from a metal gantry.
Repairs to the damaged wires were being carried out overnight with work continuing on Thursday morning, Network Rail said
New Street is the busiest railway station outside of London and the damage was affecting services for many operators, National Rail said.
Services running from or through New Street to cities including London, Manchester, Glasgow and Cardiff were among those affected, as well as many services within the West Midlands.
Passengers were warned their trains could be cancelled, delayed by up to three hours or not run for their full route.
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